So this is goodbye...

So my finals are officially over! I am very excited. I think I did well for the most part (my Islam final will always be a little iffy. But hooray! Now I have the rest of today and tomorrow to relax, pack, say goodbye to people, and get ready to return home.

Now that’s something.

I still cannot believe that it is over. Becky is done today, and is leaving to go to Portugal with her parents. Peter leaves tomorrow. Then there I go.

It’s been a wonderful ride, guys, and I just wanted to thank those of you who stuck it out and read this, even if not regularly, and left me little notes or sent me e-mails. I truly appreciated it, and cannot thank you enough.

Ick. Packing does not sound at all appealing. I do not know how I am going to get this all home. BUT I know that if my bags are too heavy, it will cost me less to pay for the extra weight there than if I sent stuff home. That being said, I don’t really care. It’s all coming home whether they like it or not!

I have been kind of feverish the last day and a half. It hasn’t been so fun. My throat’s been killing me too, and all of that on top of finals has just been excellent, let me tell you. BUT IT IS OVER NOW!! :) I just have this super fun dry block of wonderment stuck in my chest that I cannot cough up because it is so so painful! My throat hurts, but not as bad as yesterday, and I am happy my fever is gone.

Buuuuuut yeah. If you ever get the chance to come to Spain, do it. Go to Granada and see a little piece of what I called home for a semester. You will love it, if you’re lucky enough to make it here. If not, indulge yourself in the pictures I took. There’s enough of them there to keep you busy for quite awhile.

I have already started a list of the things that I want to eat upon my return (don’t laugh! Ok…go ahead, fine!):

Olive Garden’s fettuccini alfredo
Steak and Shake chicken tenders and cheese fries
Taco Bell tacos and cheesey fiesta potatoes
Portillos hot dog and cheese fries
Noodles and Co. mac and cheese and buttered noodles
Panera broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl
Aurelio’s pizza
Chef’s kitchen pizza from Jewel
Mac and Cheese
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brownies
Rice Krispy Treats
Nachos and queso
Chips and Salsa
Goldfish Crackers
Corned Beef Hash
Cinnamon Roll French toast from Egg’lectic
Eggo Waffles with syrup
Eggo Waffles with peanut butter

Hope you enjoyed that one. :)

What I wouldn’t give for a nice massage and a manicure/pedicure right now. Mom? You up for it? Hm? Hm? We shall talk.

I cannot wait to sleep in my own comfy bed at home with a warm room and blankets to squish around in. And seeing my parents and puppies. And my friends from home and school. I cannot waaaait!! I just hope everyone is as excited as I am, but I am not going to get my hopes up too, too high, because Veronica says we shouldn’t. The whole culture shock re-entry thing.

That’s something to look forward to, I am sure.

But yes, it is possible that this is the last post I have on here, so again, thank you all so much for reading and flipping through the pictures and all that. I love you all for it, trust me.

Here goes nothing I guess.

…I just hope Iberia doesn’t decide to cancel my flight. I will not be a happy camper. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Much love from Spain for the last time,

M.

A few things...

1. I have a fever. Yes, three days before I need to leave, my stupid body decides to come down with a fever. Wonderful.

2. I got not enough sleep last night because of my fever, and thus am exhausted and I have 2 finals today. Super!

3. I started packing yesterday. Yikes. And we gave Alejandro his present: A book of magic tricks!

4. I am so not ready for my Islam final tomorrow. Not even close. There is way too much information to jam into my non-functioning, feverish brain. Give me another aspirin, pronto!

5. I only have 3 days left, and I don't know how that happened, but I am not ready to go home! I mean, I am, but I am not. I know that makes zero sense, but it makes sense to me!

6. I CANNOT WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS!!

The end.

There is an abnormally large nativity scene in our school courtyard...

Ok.

So this may be one of the last posts I write until after I finish my finals. That will not be until Tuesday, so expect something PROBABLY on Wednesday, though I will be spending most of my time packing and such, but I want to start that sometime sooner as well.

Le sigh.

Well, more lasts. Ready?

Last classes of the semester. So happy that’s over with..
Last Tutorial class with Jose. He seemed as if he was going to cry because he got kind of emotional and told us that this is his least favorite part of the semester, saying goodbye to everyone.
Last large group meeting with Veronica.

BUT! There are some firsts happening too, so it’s alright:

First tetería I’ve been to. It, apparently, is older than the Alhambra because it once used to be a part of the Arab Baths (which are next door).
First final in Spain—Phonetics. It wasn’t too horrible, but I think the rest that are coming might.
First written paper turned in to Jose for Granada Seminar. (Hooray! A bunch of days early!)

So yes. I am very busy because I had a final in Grammar today. Two on Monday, and one on Tuesday to go. Yuck.

We also have our farewell dinner on Thursday, which should be fun. We get fancy pizza, and I am so excited!! We also have the basketball game on Saturday, and I must must must start packing soon, no matter what. I need to get it over with.

For your viewing pleasure (and to get it suck in your head!!) take a look-see at this:



Isn’t that quite the doosie. :) Oh the things we learn from Jose…

Anne leaves FRIDAY and I cannot believe it. What the heck?! How did the time go so quickly? I simply do not understand. Ok, so I know how it did, due to my traveling everywhere I could get tickets to, and just having a blast. Sure I had my bad spots too, but that’s normal life I guess.

I am excited to see my parents and my friends from home again even if I will miss this place a lot.

Tra la la that’s all for now because I need to study! Yuck.

Besitos a todos!

My boots are drying on the calefaccion as we speak!

I just found out that my boots are still wet inside from Tuesday when it rained. Gross. They just don't get much air in there to dry, and the apartment isn't very warm all the time (just from 3:30pm-10:30pm), so I put them on the radiator today to dry. Here's to hoping they don't shrink or do something weird!

It's been a busy couple days, though Monday and Tuesday seemed to take forever. It was a week of the first "lasts"...we had our last Granada Seminar and Phonetics classes with Jose...I am still not sure how I feel about this. I am really going to miss Granada when I go home. I have a lot to do this weekend, but even more things I would rather do instead since we have Monday off due to the Fiesta de la Concepción Inmaculada.

Not to worry--I have already done my share of fun things, and it's still only Friday! Yesterday after lunch, I went to visit the Capilla Real with Sara (THE PICTURES ARE UP GO LOOK!) and it was wonderful, and beautiful, just like every cathedral in Spain. Then we went to search for the other olive oil shop that Jose had told us about (since the first one didn't seem like what we were expecting) and could not find it anywhere! He told us it was near Plaza Trinidad...and we walked all over the place, and nothing. So then we were about to give up and just go eat a snack and when we were walking down this one skinny street (like all the other streets in Granada) a car was coming our way, and we moved to the side of the road and basically fell into the place we were looking for! It was amazing!

The woman is from Australia originally, and was very helpful. We just told her what we were looking for, and she knew exactly what to do. We tried a bunch of different oils, and some honey, and even some sherry! It was probably one of the most ironic moments of my entire life. :)

After that, we headed home. After dinner, though, Sara and I met up with Anne and the people in her program at Batan, and had a good old time. Then Anne came up to me and told me she wanted to go to Camborio (the night club up in Sacramonte in the caves) and I was astounded! When has that ever happened?! But we went and danced and had so much fun, even if we were out too late (oops...)!

Then today, Anne and I went to El Parque de las Ciencias (THERE ARE PICTURES OF THIS TOO! GO SEE!!!) and it reminded me a lot of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. We spent 3 hours or so there, and then had to leave because we were starving.

Now I am pooped, and need to get some work done. I am staying in, for sure, and getting a good nights sleep because tomorrow a bunch of us are going to the Sierra Nevadas! I cannot wait. We might go sledding if it isn't too expensive (let's hope!!) and my Señora says that it is beautiful, but I need to remember my sunscreen.

Check!

So that's all she wrote. I come home in 13 days, get excited!

I want to try eating 12 grapes with each stroke of midnight on New Years Eve like the Spanish...

Hola otra vez!

Today has been a very weird day. It seemed to drag, and now I am completely exhausted. I was planning on going for tapas but now I am not because I am too tired. Sorry Peter and Chase.

I tried my first Spanish Christmas goodies today, thanks to our Granada Seminar professor, Jose. The first is called Alfajor de Almendra, and it reminded me of a soft almond crescent, with a hint of lemon. I liked it the best out of the two.

The second is called Rosco de Vino, and its shaped like a donut, and tasted remotely of black licorice. No thanks.

Today we also had our very last meeting with Veronica (except for the full group meeting next week, and the “bye-bye dinner” [as she calls it]), and it was very bitter sweet. We talked about going home and all that, and she gave us this form to use to organize our thoughts, and I think I will share it with you:

1. When I think of leaving, I feel…conflicted. I really want to be home with my friends and family, but it almost seems too soon to be leaving. I still feel like we just got here, but yet it feels like I’ve been here forever.
2. My experience here has been…absolutely wonderful. I have learned a lot about myself, and have gained a greater appreciation for the little things I took for granted at home.
3. For me, Spain has been…a learning experience. I have broadened my food horizon a ton, learned that I am a lot tougher than I thought, and have learned a ton about Spanish culture and the language.
4. The things that I will miss are…being able to relax a lot more and not worry about things so much. Siestas. Traveling. Tapas. The friends I have made. My host family. Too many things…
5. The things that I will be happy to leave behind me are…the creepy, leering Spanish men. How no one knows how to walk on their side of the sidewalk. Dog poop everywhere on the sidewalks. All the second-hand smoke. The freezing house at night.
6. When I talk to other students about leaving…we cannot believe it is time to leave! It is even harder than when I had to come to grips with leaving for the semester!
7. When leaving a place, I usually…try to fit in too many things, see too many people. I keep to myself and get very reflective at times too. Many times, I cry, even though it is embarrassing.
8. The easiest point of leaving for me will be…returning to my family and friends that I’ve missed, and the food I have been craving that they do not have in Spain.
9. Before I leave, I really want to…visit the arab baths. Parque de las Ciencias. The Cartuja. Explore more. Get tapas again. Visit Federico García Lorca’s house…too much.
10. The ways I think I have changed are…I learned I am a lot more independent than I realized. I am a lot more open to change, and have become more patient and grateful for what I have.
11. The most stressful part of leaving will be…getting to the airport for my 7am flight! And saying my goodbyes…
12. When I think of returning to my country I feel…excited but overwhelmed. I have A LOT to go back to and throw myself back into! I am happy to see my family and friends again, though, but it will be a tough adjustment.
13. The ways I think my friends have changed are…I have no idea. Life goes on even while I am not there. They’ve probably matured and changed in their own ways. I will only notice when I get there.
14. I will be going back to…lots of family. Christmas. Kappa Delta. Bradley. Internship applications. Books. Classes. Real lilfe.
15. I think my family will expect me to…tell them everything, show them all of my pictures, and be really upbeat all the time. Be an entirely new person, which I am, but I am not.
16. I expect that my friends at home will…be excited I am home, but also have to adjust to my return themselves. They will have changed too.
17. I think the hardest part of going back for me will be…adjusting to the life I missed the semester before with the people who lived it without me. Food times. The scenery!
18. I think the easiest thing for me to handle will be…the food! I can’t wait. Being with my family because they are always there no matter what.
19. I am really looking forward to…Christmas with my family. The 3rd Annual Bradley Family Dinner. Ana’s visit. Home food. Baked goods. Working out (who knew?!). Having no language barrier. My own room. My doggies. My comfy bed. Soft laundry. Being in Kappa Delta again. The Banambra!

And that concludes that. Now to go over some more Islam slides…

Wouldn't it be nice if we could wake up in the morning when the day is new?

I am currently jamming out to the Beach Boys and it is glorious! Man how I have missed them. It definitely bring back memories of my childhood. :)

Pictures are up from Thanksgiving and all that jazz, if you want to look. There are only 19 photos or so, so don't get too excited.

I had an in-class essay tonight for my Latin American Civ and Culture class...but he let us use our notes, which was nice, but kind of weird. This was our "midterm" I guess, even though our final is in two weeks. Yikes, two weeks!? Where has the time gone?!

We watched The Motorcycle Diaries today with our program. I absolutely LOVE that movie, and Gael Garcia Burnal is absolutely gorgeous! I was pleasantly surprised how much of it I was able to pick up without any subtitles at all! :) That definitely makes me happy!

That's about all I've got from the homefront. Enrique is still in the pueblo and could be stuck there because it snowed up there. Other than that I only have (20 minutes til) 16 days left.

And I have officially started my advent calendar! Happy December everybody.

Turkey(less) Day, (fake) Black Friday, and the best Tapas I've had

Oh, hello there! :)

Now that the festivities and I am stuck doing my homework and starting my study ventures for finals, I thought this would be the perfect time to update about Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and yesterday! Oh the life of procrastination. It has followed me, even here. Oops.

My program had Thanksgiving dinner up in the Albycin and this really wonderful restaurant, whose name I do not recall. We had a delicious 6 course meal of the following:

1: Salad and fruit (there will be a picture of this when I put the pictures up!). There was a weird vinegar drizzle over everything, which made the kiwi taste absolutely awful but that's alright. The rest of the fruit was delicious and very welcome.

2: Assorted meats and cheese, like chorizo, which some people made sandwiches out of, haha. It was normal tapa food.

3: Bring on the fried fishies and shrimp. There was shrimp (which were delicious), medusa (I was not even aware this was a real kind of fish), anchovies (I didn't partake, I am sick of them by now. Thanks Senora!), and some other thick fish I do not know the name of that you need to prepare with lemon juice and cut into chunks because it is fried. It was my favorite out of all the fishies.

4: Ham croquetas and pasta salad. The pasta salad had zero taste at all, but the croquetas were absolutely delicious. I have only ever had chicken and beef croquetas at my senora's house, so this was a nice change. I still like the chicken ones best, however.

5: The main meal. Instead of your proverbial turkey-filled Thanksgiving meal, we had, uh. Pork chops. Yes, pork chops. For those of you who know me well, you know the problem with this, and for those of you who don't...well, I abhor pork chops. Absolutely. But I ate them. Pork chops with a Marsala glaze and 2 raisins, and french fries instead of turkey and mashed potatoes. Who knew?

6: Dessert (is stressed spelled backwards...)! We had this flan-type dessert, which was the best flan I have ever had in my ENTIRE life. It was so delicious, and it wasn't really bitter on the bottom like it usually is. I was so full at this point, but I made room because there was just no other option!

And then we also could have water, wine, beer, and pop with our meals. It was a wonderful time, and then afterwards our program directors took us out with them to this nice bar called Gustav near Plaza Nueva. It was so much fun.

Then came Black Friday. In the true spirit of the craziness going on in the states, Anne and I spent the day wandering around in shops and doing some shopping. No shoving was involved, thank goodness, but now I have all of my Christmas shopping done! Hooray! Well, close. I have one or two things left to get, but I am waiting until later to see if somehow the prices go down, and if not, well, I will re-evaluate. :) But I got a wonderful new winter jacket from Mango, as well as a sweater, and a sweater dress from Zara for myself. And the a bunch of stuff for everyone else. I spent too much money, but it was worth it.

Last night Anna, Peter, Sara, Ben, Tanya and I went to this tapa bar called Poe (with the umlaut over the e) and they had the most wonderful tapas ever! They actually had some spice! We spent quite a bit of time there enjoying ourselves, and then headed to this bar called (feel free to laugh, I did) L'Escandolo and it was actually really nice and fun. After getting a call from Becky and Shay, we left to go meet up with them at Hannigans, but then left shortly after that because we were tired and it was late. It was raining the entire walk home, and I think I had more water in my shoes than not. It was gross.

Now I am here wasting time instead of doing homework, even though I really should. I will, but right now, no.

But that's all I've got, so yeah. Have a wonderful dayyyy! Hasta pronto (en 18 dias!)!!!

Hooray!

I woke up from my nap today to find that the internet connection I discovered last night (which also pooped out on me 15 minutes later...and could quite possibly poop out on me at any time) is back!

So I am using it here while I still can before I have to head back to school. The connection wavers every once in awhile, but is still relatively speedy, so we shall see.

I am in a very productive mood. Not productive in the way that I want to get lots of things done, but more so that I want to create things. Write things, to be more specific. I think it's thanks to reading Mairead's Blog and the essay and short stories she's recently published (I am a big fan!), but also from my literature class. It really makes me want to be one of those wonderful of yore (or at least be able to write as fantastically!) and when I sit down to do it...

Nothing.

It's highly frustrating.

But in other words...I have 22 days left here, and I have absolutely NO idea how I am going to get all of this stuff home. I know all of my toiletries (or well, most of them) will be gone and I have that weight to fill, and the extra I had coming here, but still. I think I will have one heavy carry on. Yikes.

Here's to hoping I can get everything back in one piece. Especially the breakables!

Speaking of going home...I think I found at least 2 people who are going back on the same flight to Madrid as I am! And I can share a cab with them so it isn't so expensive! Hooray!

I think that is all for now. I may have to start studying for finals soon...so if I go AWOL...that's why. But I do not think it will be a problem.

Mucho amor.

Oh!--Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow everyone!

I am going to vomit...

I just took my Islam midterm, and I think I did well! Yay hooray!!

But in other news, there was a COCKROACH scuttling around in our room this morning. I am so disgusted. Ew ew ew I do not think I will sleep again.

I came back into my room after brushing my teeth, and there he was, sitting next to my bed in all his nasty, cockroach glory. I told my roommate as I ran out of the room to tell my senora. I found her in the kitchen merrily fixing us breakfast (coffee, and toast oh boy!) and told her what literally translates as "there is a bug in the corner of our room." She looked and me and confirmed that it was in my room and not in the bathroom (where, she told us later, they usually show up, if ever), and followed me back to my room.

As she approached the corner, and told me she didn't see it anywhere. It had crawled behind the box, and I told her that. So (in Spanish, of course) she said, "Wait! I need to get my bug spray!" and ran out of the room and returned with a spray can that had to be at least 17 inches long and popped the lid off. She approached the corner, can at the ready and shoved the box to the side. Nothing. Then she shoved my books to the side. Nothing. So she shoved my folders over and SURPRISE! There he was, and he was not happy. He began hissing at her a little bit and began to scurry away as she sprayed him with as much cockroach repellent as she could muster.

My 76 year old Senora was hipchecking tables, beds, and chairs out of the way to chase it around and kill it. Then he disappeared.

My roommate and I proceeded to continue getting ready for class after she told us that even though he was missing, he would die because of the spray, and she would spray our room again and let it sit, and then clean and put our room back together for us before we got home tonight.

Here's to hoping my senora gets the bugger and all of his other minions!

Sick.

Return to Granada, Once Again.

So. I have returned from a weekend in Paris. It is my second time ever being there, and I loved it just as much as the first time. This is a good sign. However, I now really wish that I could speak French, but alas! I cannot.

We spent two completely packed days seeing as much as we could. In Peter's words, we "took Paris by storm." Love it. It was quite the journey, I must say.

On Thursday, my Grammar class (which usually lets out 10 minutes early) was let out 5 minutes late, and then I had a heck of a time getting home quickly. So then we needed to take the bus to the bus station. We didn't have tickets for the bus yet, and we missed the 1:30 bus by minutes, and then had to buy tickets for the 2:00 "Supra" bus to Madrid (it's like flying first class in a plane...I swear!) that makes no stops, but costs 32 euro a person. But we got there in one piece. Then we needed to take the Metro to the airport terminal, and we didn't look at our tickets, and went to the wrong terminal (my bad!) and then had to take the Metro BACK to Terminal 1. It was a good thing we already had our tickets already printed out, because my the time we ran (literally) past the check in counters, they were already all closed. Then we proceeded to speed through security, and made it to the gate, only to find everyone still standing there. Thank God. So we made it to Paris, a little more exercised than before, but in one piece. And thank you Peter for not killing me. I like to keep things exciting...

Then when we arrived at the hostel, we found we had a lovely amigo staying in the 6th bed in the room. He was so grumpy and kept yelling at us for things, including Hallie finding a fork and butter knife in her bed (thanks to Justin!). He even had the nerve to ask us if we thought the room was a playground...which obviously it is not but we were being just normal people in their hostel room. Nothing extreme.

And then he proceeded to snore allllll night long. It was awful! Good lord, it was projecting everywhere, and I thought for a minute it was Anne! But it was not, obviously. We really could have done without him, but thankfully he was out before the sun came up, and we only needed to sleep.

We moved to our new home: "Grand Hotel Magenta", which would lend you to believe it is a classy, high end hotel, but really. Budget hotel to the extreme. The beds were bowed in the middle!! That proved to be great for the back at night. :)

We went on the Free Walking Tour of Paris (like the one I took in Munich and Berlin...) and it took almost four hours, but it was wonderful. And our guide was so energetic, Peter was convinced he was on crack. And Hallie was in love. And Justin, Anne and I were just along for the ride. After that finished, we met up with Brett (!!!!) at the Louvre because it was FREE for people under 26 that night until 9:45. Hooray! Then we ate some dinner, and went to bed.

The next day we were up and out the door by like 9:15/9:30 and went up to Montmarte to see the Sacre Coeur and Moulin Rouge, after eating Crepes for breakfast (its the only way to do it, I have decided!). After that, we walked on down, and visited the Opera House where the Phantom of the Opera is supposed to take place. Then came lunch, and then going inside the Notre Dame. It was probably the most wonderful cathedral ever. I cannot even describe the caliber of beauty it holds. If you ever get the chance to go, GO! And I mean it.

Then we met up with Brett and with to the Musee d'Orsay, and I GOT TO SEE LOTS OF VAN GOUGH! It made me very happy. There are pictures of everything we did and saw while we were there, so no worries! They are now up! Hooray!

Now I am back in Granada, and the weather is actually beautiful again. It was up to 20 degrees centigrade again (about 60ish degrees)!!! I am happy to be back, but exhausted. Very exhausted. Midterms are this week, but I only have one on Thursday. The rest are next week, and I am not excited. You mean I have real school to attend to? I was not aware...

I got a letter from Brooke today (that I think came on Friday) with a coloring book page, and an actual letter!!! I was so so so excited! And I taped the coloring book page up on my wall...love it!

This weekend I am going to Barcelona with Anne and Sara! And then the weekend after that, to Seville and Cordoba with my program. Then I am done with traveling for the rest of the semester, which is a weird concept. Very weird. That means I am past the halfway mark, and closer to going home than not. I will be glad to go home, that is for sure, but I will be sad to leave here. I love it so much.

I better go home for dinner since it is already almost 8:30, and dinner is at 9. I have a good 20-25 minute walk ahead of me. Entonces, hasta luego!

Happy Halloween from across the pond!

Hello hello.

I figured I would give you a regular update of how things are going. It's currently pouring rain--for somewhere that is supposed to be dry and desert-like, it sure is raining a lot lately!

We filled out our midterm program evaluations yesterday. We had to tell them what we thought about all of our teachers, and our host families. It was weird doing that for my host family because, even though I like them a lot, we do always get the same rotation of meals, and we even had this disgusting meal of thin sliced, raw ham and melon.

That's it.

The ham was so incredibly salty...it was awful! And my senora kept telling us to eat it with the melon, but that just made it taste worse! Yuck, yuck, yuck. I could really live without that meal ever again. That, and the gross cabbage and almond soup she makes far too often.

And I decided this morning that I hate weekend breakfasts because by then we are always out of the normal, delicious toast bread (which is like baguette bread, not the square kind at home), and instead I get these little cake things. It is just far too sweet to eat in the morning.

BUT! Enrique called Allison and I his "hijas de America" when his son popped in the other day, and it made me smile. I like it because, even though at first my host family seemed really stiff, and a lot of times Isabel seemed like she was scolding us, they are warming up a lot more. Isabel is just a spunky 75 year old woman, and she really never was doing any scolding. I honestly hope I have have that much life in me still when I am her age. That would be amazing.

It's not so scary to try to communicate with them either anymore. They're really patient, and do correct us if we make mistakes, which is helpful.

It's hard to believe we are already half way through the semester. I only have a month and a half left here. How did this happen?? Where did the time go?

I will never know.

I am so happy because I got mail from my parents AND a card from Stephanie! Brooke also said she sent me a letter!! Hooray!

My trip to Paris is slowly approaching...I am super excited to see Brett and Hallie (for the second time!!!).

I really wish it would stop raining. But alas!

I watched Barack Obama's 30 minute infomercial yesterday, and for real guys, it made me tear up. I want him to be president so, so badly that I cannot even understand how anyone could not think that he would be the best decision for our nation's future. Mairead really pinpointed my sentiment in her blog, and you can go read it here. If McCain is elected, I will never forgive the American public. Never.

And you have my word on that.

The number of un-sent, un-opened absentee ballots sitting in the mailboxes here upsets me. But what can you do? American's are notoriously politically apathetic.

In other news--I have gotten some major gift shopping out of the way! I only have 3 or 4 people left, which considering the list, is quite impressive! Hooray hurrah!

I better get a move on. Hasta pronto.

Prague, how I love you...

So this weekend, I traveled to Prague with Peter, Chase, and Chris, and met up with Hallie and her friends a couple times, and Justin even graced us with his presence! And can I just say, that city is absolutely amazing! Its probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and I am sure that when I return to the United States, I will look at the industrial-look of Chicago, and be like "ew, gross" no matter how much I love the city. It just isn't the same. It was wonderful, yet cold, AND NO RAIN FOLLOWED ME!

I am putting pictures up as we speak, if you don't believe me. :)

The first night we were there, we went to the hostel that Justin suggested, and lo and behold, there were no rooms available for us, and Peter had not made any sort of reservation, and I thought to myself, "Oh God...not a repeat of Germany, please!!" But the man at the desk called another hostel for us, and we ended up staying at a pretty cheap place, that was actually really, really nice. We met up with Hallie and her friends Stephanie (who goes to Bradley too) on Charles Bridge, and then just went to a bar and hung out for awhile.

The next day, the boys and I attempted to go to the Jewish cemetery (not realizing that DUH it would be closed on Saturday) and then proceeded to walk around Old Town, and then hiked up to Praha Hrad (or Prague Castle). We were highly disappointed in the fact that the castle itself was closed for 3 days (and we were only going to be there for 3 days!!) and the Powder Tower was closed too somehow, so our little visit was not only short, but also highly unsatisfying for the amount of money we had to pay to get in.

After that, we walked around a bit more, headed back to the hostel, siesta'd, and then went bar hopping again, where I stole yet another beer stein (huzzah!!) and then we called it a night.

Sunday we hopped on the train and headed to Karlstejn castle, which was about 45 minutes outside of the city. Oh my goodness, this castle was amazing, as well as the countryside surrounding it. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the castle, but the grounds were beautiful! When we got back, we went to try to go to the Jewish Cemetery again, but alas! They were closing in 20 minutes. Just our luck. So we went back to the hostel, napped, and then proceeded to eat Chinese Food for the second night in a row. It was delicious, if you must know.

We were on our way to meet Hallie in Old Town Square, when we heard some whistling at us. My reaction, thanks to Spanish men, is to avoid at all costs, but when Peter looked over, Justin was sitting on the curb, waiting for us! I guess he got bumped from his plane so he couldn't meet us the day before like he had originally planned, and yet we somehow found him! It was incredible.

Then we all met up with Hallie and the people from her program, and went to this jazz club. After that, we smuggled Justin and his ENORMOUS backpack into our hostel, and then conked out. In the morning, we tried ONE LAST TIME to get into the Jewish Cemetery (thinking it would only cost 40 crowns)...but it cost over 200 crowns, so we called it a day, and wandered and shopped instead.

Then came the next 13 hours of traveling on metro, bus, and plane for, uh...13 hours. It was gross, and we got home at 12:30 in the morning, but it was definitely worth it.

I finally voted and I am so excited for the election oh my goodness! And I got two letter from my padres, and a package of goodies! Hooray! So all you people who said you would write...hop to it!! :)

I need to go read and go to my Tutorial. I love you all!

Hasta pronto,

M.

Oh Life...

Ay dios mio! Now that I am back in Granada, the craziness that was our trip to Germany has finally started to settle in. The pictures are up, so have a look-see, but beware, chaos ensues.

I was so so SO glad to return to Granada, even if the weather has cooled considerably since I left. At least it is still sunny and NOT rainy and cold (and here’s to hoping it stays that way!!) The only way I can possibly describe our adventures in Germany would be to tell them to imagine the craziest movie they’ve ever seen of a group of people traveling, and all of the ridiculous, crazy things that happen to them, unfortunate occurrences, etc. that all seem like they’re blowing things out of proportion, and don’t actually happen in real life: and then believe that Sara, Joanie, Susanne, and I lived it during this past week. I don’t think I will ever be the same again. Nor do I think that I need to be working on my FO at all anymore. I definitely got my flexibility on, and couldn’t turn it off, otherwise I would have snapped.

And trust me, I almost did. Though I think that mostly had to do with my being sick. Speaking of my tonsils…they magically are better, and I feel back to normal. How odd. Maybe it really was just the climate change, and the cold that was throwing me off. Who knows. Anything is possible.

We had our first “week” (meaning two days) of classes…and I absolutely love both my POE (writing and speaking), and Literatura de Siglo XX classes, but I am not so happy with my Civilizacion y Cultura Hispanoamericana class at all. I literally zoned out for the entire 2 hours, and really didn’t miss anything. Ah well.

My grammar class wasn't so bad today either. The professor reminds me a lot of a spanish version of Adam Sandler. And Joanie is in my class, so its nice to know someone for once. And I am not sure how my Islam class will be, but we shall see I guess, huh?

We finally booked tickets to go to Prague today. To be honest, I wasn’t so happy because instead of going Thursday-Sunday like I wanted, we have to go Friday-Monday so the tickets aren’t so expensive. They were 290 USD round-trip, which isn’t so bad I suppose, but I am kind of upset I need to miss classes. I am excited, though, because now our group has expanded to Sara and Chase too, along with me and Peter.

We are still on the lookout for tickets to Paris in November to meet Hallie and Brettsky, and maybe Annie will come if she wants to come too (YES PLEASE!!), and I know Sara wanted to come just to go to Paris and meet my friends, and Ana may just be flying with us because she just wants to go to France, and Chase wants to go to France too, and wants to go to London during the same trip. Madre mia! So much travel.

I am leaving to go on my Morocco trip tonight! Huzzah! We are taking the bus to Algeciras, and spending the night there since we have to meet up with the program at eight in the morning to take the boat across the Straight of Gibraltar to Tangier. I really cannot wait! It is going to be yet another experience of a lifetime. I will be sure to document accordingly (remember! Look at my photos from Germany—I split up the albums for easier perusing!) and post when I return. Never fear, I will not be gone long!

Oh life. What a hoot.

Much love,

M.